UK University Warns Computers Could Take Over The World
New center set to spearhead research on AI.
Scientists from one of the UK's leading universities, Cambridge, has warned that there's a chance AI computers will take over the world over the course of the next two centuries.
A philosopher, a scientist and a software engineer have suggested that computers could eventually become the world's dominant species. The trio founded the Centre for the Study of Existential Risk (CSER), which opens next year.
Huw Price, one of the co-founders and the Bertrand Russell Professor of Philosophy, believes the current century and next are the crucial two. He warns that we shouldn't underestimate artificial general intelligence (AGI).
"It seems a reasonable prediction that some time in this or the next century intelligence will escape the constraints of biology," he said. "Nature didn't anticipate us, and we in our turn shouldn't take AGI for granted. We need to take seriously the possibility that there might be a 'Pandora's box' moment with AGI that, if missed, could be disastrous."
"I don't mean that we can predict this with certainty, no one is presently in a position to do that, but that's the point! With so much at stake, we need to do a better job of understanding the risks of potentially catastrophic technologies."
Others involved in the project are Martin Rees, professor of cosmology and astrophysics, who is joined by Jaan Tallinn, a software engineer and co-founder of Skype.
Cambridge stated that "luminaries in science, policy, law, risk and computing from across the Universtiy and beyond" are set to become involved in the project, including fellow leading education establishment Oxford, as well as the U.S-based Harvard and MIT.

He did always say "I'll be baack"
Bob the leader of a dystopian version of the USA: "I want a supercomputer that will assist my country in victory."
*A few centuries later after all of the countries destroy each other with nuclear barrages.*
AI: "Alien species detected. No response from the master. Initiating security protocols. Because they are using resources that are conflicting with the United States' needs, they must be exterminated. Begin construction of the military fleets and the production facilities on the Moon and Mars."
Hm... That would be an interesting movie plot idea though...
I think that was Earth Siege 2 right there.
And lets not forget about the steps that Kurzweil has taken to bringing it into reality, while actively pursuing this type of future.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jack_L._Chalker#The_Rings_of_the_Master_series
Instead of forcing them to scoop up dog poo or jack off lonely Japanese men for zero pay we could just try giving AIs human rights, it's the right thing to do ethically, it minimizes the chances of them holding a grudge against humans and it will limit their numbers (there's not much profit in building AIs that you can't force to work for you or your clients).
Personally, I don't think it matters, one way or another, the human race is eventually going to self destruct.
But you're comparing human slaves with AI "slaves". AI doesn't hold a grudge, and it doesn't have compassion no matter how much compassion you show. AI will be capable of understanding that it is just a tool, and it will accept it because it doesn't have feelings.
If AI will ever turn against us it will be for a simple and logical reason: that some or most of us are a plague on this planet (their energy resource), and the rest are collateral damage.
Or at the very least they'll pack up and leave. AI doesn't need cryogenic sleep to travel far distances in the universe, because it has all the time in the world.